OPERA America draws on resources and expertise from within and beyond the opera field to advance a mutually beneficial agenda that serves and strengthens the field through programs in the following categories:

Creation: Artistic services that help artists and companies increase the creativity and excellence of opera productions, especially North American works;

Presentation: Opera company services that address the specific needs of staff, trustees and volunteers;

Enjoyment: Education, audience development and community services that increase all forms of opera appreciation.

New York City is home to the nation’s largest concentration of performing and creative artists, professional training institutions and music businesses. A majority of OPERA America’s Professional Company Members hold or attend auditions in New York City annually, and opera leaders from Europe and around the world are regular visitors.

In response to the pressing need for appropriate space in New York by members who suffered from the lack of good audition and work facilities in the city, OPERA America created the National Opera Center. The Opera Center serves many functions that support the artistic and economic vitality of the field by providing its constituents with a range and level of services never before possible.

OPERA America serves the entire opera field through research, publications and services. We work daily to facilitate the creation, performance and enjoyment of opera throughout North America. Much of what we do is made possible through generous contributions from opera lovers like you.

A similar challenge is felt by opera
companies across North America, of
course; all but a handful offer fewer
than 50 mainstage performances
each year. Compared with other
cultural organizations that welcome
the public five or six days a week,
such as museums or libraries, opera
companies can seem somewhat
inaccessible.

Summer festivals, with their
concentrated seasons, are acutely
aware of this problem. Many have
responded with a concerted effort to
think outside the theater — and to
demonstrate that an opera company
can deliver continuing value in a
variety of ways. Their creative and
varied approaches to communitybuilding
can serve as an inspiration
to all companies, regardless of
performance schedule.

Off-Season? What Off-Season?
Not surprisingly, one of the primary
ways opera festivals stay visible
through the year is by producing
opera. The productions are often
on a different scale and in different
venues than summer offerings, but
that can be a good thing.

"We are actually in Indianola, which
qualifies as a suburb community
of Des Moines, but with 12 miles
of farmland between us, we're
not always perceived that way,"
says Des Moines Metro Opera's
Michael Egel, who serves as artistic
administrator and director of
education. Egel notes that for nine
months of the year, "we're trying
to get ourselves into Des Moines
proper as much as possible." In
addition to small-scale community
events and performances, the
company offers occasional full-scale
productions in the Des Moines
Civic Center. "It is nice because
it is an almost 3,000-seat house,
much bigger than our summer
performance space," says Egel. This
allows the company to perform
works, like Aida, that would not be
appropriate for its intimate summer
home. They are also able to access
a different pool of artists, because
artists only need to commit to a
couple of performances.

"For years we have done peripheral
programming outside our season,
and we almost never do it in Music
Hall," says Cincinnati Opera
General Director Patty Beggs,
who feels it is valuable for the
company to be seen in different
neighborhoods and to reach diverse
audiences around Cincinnati. For
the past 10 years, the company has
drawn enthusiastic crowds for its
family operas, which have included
Different Fields, by former all-pro
football player Mike Reid; Rise for
Freedom: The John P. Parker Story,
which focuses on a local hero of the
Underground Railroad; and a new
version of Hans Krása's Brundibár.

Events for families are popular
attractions in many communities.
Fort Worth Opera scheduled a
holiday performance of Amahl and
the Night Visitors last year, and all
five performances — presented in a
local Hispanic neighborhood — sold
out. According to General Director
Darren Keith Woods, the production
got more press than anything the
company has ever done. Just before
The Santa Fe Opera opens its
summer season, the company offers
a month-long run of a one-hour
opera in downtown venues, using
both young artists and local talent.
"People just flock to them," says
Joyce Idema, the company's director
of press and public relations. "They
get something very clever and very
funny for only $10."

Many summer festivals, including
Cincinnati Opera, The Santa Fe
Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera and Berkshire Opera, put together
a small touring company that
performs in community venues and
schools throughout the region. Most
years, Opera North's (Lebanon, NH)
education program tours for seven
weeks and plays to an audience
of 25,000 — more people than the
company otherwise reaches all year.

The off-season allows opera
companies to diversify their
programming. Lake George Opera
at Saratoga has a regular program
at Caffè Lena, a well-established
Saratoga Springs coffeehouse that
was recently named best small
venue in North America by the
International Folk Alliance. While
the opera's coffeehouse programs
have some connection to mainstage
offerings, they are also planned with
the regular Caffè Lena audience in
mind. For instance, the summer 2008
season will include Michael Ching's
Buoso's Ghost. The composer, who
resides in Memphis, is also an active
songwriter, and he will present a
program of folk and country music.

A significant portion of
Glimmerglass Opera's
(Cooperstown, NY) patron base
lives outside the Cooperstown area.
For these individuals, the company
plans eight to 10 programmed
events each year, many in Albany
or New York City. Typically hosted
by members of the company's
National Council, the programs
usually feature alumni of the
Young American Artists Program.
"Many of these singers already
have a following," says Director
of Institutional Advancement Joan
Desens, "and a lot of the attendees
enjoy greeting and talking with
them." The company also began
presenting regular programs at
Manhattan's Morgan Library &
Museum in 2006.

Young artists frequently play a
starring role in off-season events,
ranging from holiday concerts
to sporting events. The Santa Fe
Opera packs the house for its
annual free holiday concert at St.
Francis Cathedral, a large church in
downtown Santa Fe. PORTopera
(Portland, ME) offers three "Sunset
Serenades" each year, usually
in private homes. The programs
feature successful former young
artists such as Ashley Emerson,
who began in PORTopera's chorus,
moved up to Young Artist, and is
now a member of the Metropolitan
Opera's Lindemann Young Artist
Development Program. Two years
ago, when Maine native Kate
Aldrich returned for a recital, the
company rented a theater and
hired a string quartet for a sold-out
concert featuring the fast-rising star.

Summer festivals are not the only
ones producing performances
and events outside the regular
subscription season, of course.
According to the Professional Opera
Survey, OPERA America members
saw nearly $20 million in income
from non-mainstage performances
— which are typically offered at
low cost or even free — in 2006.
However, the income — and even
the effect on the box office — is
a secondary concern: "Some of
these people don't ever go to the
mainstage," says Beggs. "We think
that's OK. The mandate is for more
opera."

Please, Put Your Daughter
on the Stage!
Noël Coward famously cautioned
against it, but opera companies find
that by creating opportunities for
young performers, they not only
give back to the community, they
gain considerable press attention. "Our area is very fragmented — there are tons of little suburban
communities of 5,000 to 8,000
people, and many of them have
their own newspapers," says Steve
Kelley, director of marketing at
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
(OTSL). In many cases, he finds that
it's not the international star on the
mainstage who sells papers, it's the
talented local high school student.

These performances draw an
audience, too — OTSL's youth opera
typically plays to about 5,000 people.
According to Director of Education
and Outreach Allison Felter, the
production is fully professional:
"Our approach is very much
patterned after the mainstage."
The company puts out a "cattle
call" through music teachers at
schools within a 100-mile radius of
the company, and the students are
joined by a few professional adult
singers and a chamber orchestra.
The youth operas are performed
in a variety of venues, which
Felter says is "a kind of advantage,
because showing up in a new
neighborhood is a g

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